Bad Girls by Jane Yolen and Heidi E. Y. Stemple

This fun book gives a brief intro to the infamous bad girls of history from biblical figures such as Delilah and Jezebel to murderers like Lizzie Borden and Elisabeth Bálfory to possible innocents such as Tituba from the Salem Witch Trials. At the end of each 2 page “chapter,” there is a small comic of the authors, a mother-daughter pair. They share their perspective of the women and whether she was really bad or if history made her ruthless because the time period was stricter to things such as girls becoming porstitues. Perfect for anyone who wants to know a little more about those who ran with the and sometimes toppled the boys by letting loose their virtues. Made for middle/lower grade.

Dead Feminists by Chandler O’Leary and Jessica Spring

This is a beautiful book whose illustrations/ letterpress prints are absolutely gorgeous. I cannot stress that enough. It is wonderful to the eyes. But to the actual content, it features biographies of scan of the women and how they were important and what they contributed to our society. Plus it has so many many inspirational quotes. Furthermore, it details the political importance of broadsides throughout history and how they used each limited sale of prints to donate to charity. Additionally, the pair are still creating broadsides on their Dead Feminists website and have a permenant gallery of their work at university museums.

Brazen by Pénélope Bagieu 

Now this was an awesome comic of rebels around the world as the title suggests and features some more out there ones such as the Bearded Lady and Peggy Guggenheim and Sonita, an Afghan rapper (Look up her song Brides for Sale). Thier stories are done in quick but thoroughly informative chapters of the struggles each went through. Made for high schoolers with hard content like abuse, rape and sexual assault. Also I have heard rumors that this shall become a animated series so I’m all for that! 

Anthology of Amazing Women by Sandra Lawrence

A book for lower and middle schoolers featuring one page per women. Despite the small space, it’s still very informative and doesn’t shy away from mentioning LGTB issues or the abuse they have suffered. It features more modern women such as Sheryl Sandberg, Beyoncé and Serena Williams and it also is nicely separated into sections like Women in Media, Women in Literature, Women in Politics, Women in Stem, Women in Athletics and so on and so forth. I even discovered a few I never heard of before like  Aud the Deep-minded. 

Because I was a girl (by various authors)

These are personal essays written by women from the 1940s-2000s from important figures such as Dolares Huerta to inspirational authors like Elizabeth Acvedo to Academy Award nominee, Quvenzhane Wallis. It’s an uplifting and inspiring to hear how these women overcame, and what they achieved. I’ll admit I almost teared up at some points. It is just so good to know that women don’t have to be dead for people to see their amazing feats, that there are still living ones that continue to do great work and are being recognized while alive and that are still fighting and empowering the next generation to go and do great and even greater things.